Hi all, I have a question in regard of workflow for you.

I come from the world of 3D Studio (not Max, back in the 90's :-) ) and have passed thru 3D Max, Softimage, XSI in my studies....now that i have my own little office I must deal with licences cost and so I bought some time ago a Carrara licence (5.0 pro, now upgraded to 6).

The question is: the separated room for modeling and assembling make me feel uncomfortable, and i need to know what kind of workflow you guys use in case, for example, of a building modeling (starting from autocad blueprints). Do you model the various parts and then position them in the assembling room? Or do you model the entire building in the vertex modeler to keep the already made objects as a reference (for ex: the walls as reference to place the windows...etc..). Am I missing something? I've already studied the Mark Bremmer Tuts on VTC to learn the various aspects of the program, but i need clarification on how to put all together.

.....thanks guys. Bye!
niphredil

I only use the vertex modeler if I absolutely have to.  I find I can create just about anything with the spline modeler, but yes.  To make things as mal;eable as possible, I do each subcomponent as a seperate object.  Like the individual frame elements of a window for instance; I then group them into a finished assembly module in the assembly room.  Then it is just a matter of assembling the various sub assemblies in the assembly room.  If you need to modify something, you can then just open up the objuect in the modeling room again if you need to make adjustments.  If you don't create a seperate master for multiple instances of the same object, this makes it very easy to modify all of the instance of an object by just modifying the master for it.  Just make sure you watch the amount of master shaders the program is creating whenever you copy or duplicate an object.  The program has a tendency to create a brand new copy of each shader for each copy of the master object, so you may want to go in and manually re-apply the shader for each copy you make of an object.  Sometimes I will create a completely seperate file for any sub assemblies which are overly complex.  This allows you to create the master sub assembly without haveing to deal with the other objects cluttering up the browsers etc.  Then just copy the new subassembly back into your main document, or save it into your My Objects folder (make sure to save the preview with it if you do this.)  The nice thing about saving it to my objects as well as just copying it to the main file is that if you ever need a sub assembly like this again, it is always there.  If you are an architect, this could save you a LOT of time.  Just create all of the sub assemblies into a folder, call it Elements or something, then create modules which can be simply put together to create the basic building you are working on.   Right now I am working on a Victorian era Seaside Hotel, and I am using this approach so that the modules I use can be reused by whoever purchases the model in my store to modify the hotel or create a brand new model using my modules if he or she needs to.  Having a seperate modeling and assembly is the main reason I use Carrara as opposed to 3DS, Cinema4D Lightwave etc.  I makes it a lot easier to design complex models without constantly having to change camera angles to see around and past other elements.

hi, and thanks for your exaustive reply.

In these days i'm starting with a new complex of buildings. Can i ask you what kind of document you choose to start from? large, medium or whatsoever? I find it difficult to keep the model in scale with the background grid.

and which unit do you use to work?

thanks again.
niphredil

I usually start with medium and resize the modeling box to whatever I happen to need.  I usually try to make sure to keep all elements in the modules to scale.  I never resize an object in the assembly room since this makes it almost impossible to keep the scale consistent.  The trickiest things to get to the correct scale are angled pieces as I am sure you can imagine.  I really get annoyed by the scales available in Carrara sometimes.  So whatever scale I am using I try to keep at a base 10 inch, ft, etc reference.  Just remember to use the modeling room to resize and / or modify objects.  Doing it in the assembly room messes everything up.  Also try to use as few master objects as possible.  Use duplicate instead of copy and paste.  I try to picture in my head what I want to something to look like before I even start modeling it.  Then I mentally break it down into the fewest workable components and model each one.  Fpr archiotecture, the spline room is perfect and much easier than the vertex room.  And if you need to do something to an object in the vertex room later on, it is very easy to convert it.